TV Restaurants

What Happened to Mainelli's After Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network)?

Closed verified

As of September 2026, Mainelli's has closed — confirmed via Yelp, August 2026.

Primary source
Yelp ·
Secondary source
siaai.com ·

Last verified

What the source shows: Yelp's listing for Mainelli's Restaurant at 1366 Chalkstone Avenue, updated August 2026, marks the business permanently closed, consistent with a public auction notice that sold the property in October 2013.

  • Season / episode Season 1, Episode 2
  • Original air date
  • Address 1366 Chalkstone Ave, Providence, RI 02909

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What happened after Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network)?

Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network) traveled to Mainelli's, a neighborhood Italian restaurant on Chalkstone Avenue in the Mount Pleasant section of Providence, Rhode Island, for the second episode of the series, which aired January 26, 2011. As shown in the episode, Robert Irvine found dirty tables, slow service, and kitchen staff who had not been trained in basic food-safety practices. A large red "closed" sign had also been left on the front door even though the restaurant was open, which Irvine identified as actively discouraging walk-in customers and undercutting an already struggling neighborhood business. Over the show's typical two-day turnaround, Irvine's team retrained the kitchen staff, reworked the menu, and refreshed the dining room, then used local media outreach to tell the neighborhood that Mainelli's was in fact open for business. A local restaurant critic quoted in a 2026 Tasting Table retrospective disputed how the show portrayed the restaurant's problems and pricing, calling the on-air depiction exaggerated relative to what the critic had observed firsthand. Business improved for a period after the episode aired, according to the same Tasting Table piece, which also reported that a car crashed into the building shortly after filming and that the family lacked the funds to recover from the resulting damage. A public auction notice posted by SIA International Auctioneers advertised the sale of the Mainelli's restaurant property, including its two dining areas, full bar, and a five-room second-floor apartment, for October 9, 2013. Mainelli's no longer appears as an open business: Yelp's current listing for "Mainelli's Restaurant" at 1366 Chalkstone Avenue is marked permanently closed. A separate web search result described a Peruvian restaurant, Machupicchu Restaurant II, as later occupying the same address, though that detail could not be independently confirmed through a dated, named source and is noted here only as an unverified lead requiring further confirmation.

Featured on Restaurant: Impossible

Season / episode
Season 1, Episode 2
Original air date
Episode title
Mainelli's
What was featured
kitchen retraining, menu refresh, and press outreach for a struggling Italian restaurant
Role
Featured restaurant
Name on the broadcast
Mainelli's

Frequently asked questions

Is Mainelli's still open in 2026?

As of September 2026, Mainelli's has closed — confirmed via Yelp, August 2026.

What happened to Mainelli's after Restaurant: Impossible?

Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network) traveled to Mainelli's, a neighborhood Italian restaurant on Chalkstone Avenue in the Mount Pleasant section of Providence, Rhode Island, for the second episode of the series, which aired January 26, 2011. As of September 2026, Mainelli's has closed — confirmed via Yelp, August 2026.

Is Mainelli's permanently closed?

As of September 2026, Mainelli's has closed — confirmed via Yelp, August 2026. We publish a closure only with a dated source behind it, and we say plainly when it has not been independently confirmed.

Where is Mainelli's located?

1366 Chalkstone Ave, Providence, RI 02909. That is the address on the record as of September 7, 2026.

What season and episode of Restaurant: Impossible featured Mainelli's?

Season 1, Episode 2 of Restaurant: Impossible, first aired January 26, 2011. The episode is titled “Mainelli's”.

Did the makeover last at Mainelli's?

The episode first aired January 26, 2011. Our most recent check was September 7, 2026 — 15 years later —: As of September 2026, Mainelli's has closed — confirmed via Yelp, August 2026.

Is Mainelli's still using the Restaurant: Impossible menu or branding?

Over the show's typical two-day turnaround, Irvine's team retrained the kitchen staff, reworked the menu, and refreshed the dining room, then used local media outreach to tell the neighborhood that Mainelli's was in fact open for business. Anything newer than our last check on September 7, 2026 may not be reflected here.

Every status on this site carries a confidence label and a date, and names the source it rests on. Read the Editorial & Corrections Policy for what each label means and how quickly we act on corrections. The questions above are generated from this record's own published fields — we never publish a question we cannot answer from the data.

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Visit info

Address
1366 Chalkstone Ave, Providence, RI 02909
Venue type
restaurant
Official website
None found

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Sources

  • tastingtable.com — https://www.tastingtable.com/2136048/food-network-restaurant-impossible-vanished-restaurants/
  • siaai.com — http://www.siaai.com/?p=3893
  • Yelp — https://www.yelp.com/biz/mainellis-restaurant-providence

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Record ri-002 · last verified .